


Shifting Sands

by InkStainedHands1177



Series: Prince Universe [8]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Don't do it, F/M, Percy is Growing Up, Poor Percy, Protective Triton, Worried Amphitrite, killing in self defense, mortals and mermaids don't mix and end up happy, poaching is wrong guys, so is dynamite fishing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:00:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28497201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkStainedHands1177/pseuds/InkStainedHands1177
Summary: Percy is growing up, and that means horrible life lessons too.
Series: Prince Universe [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/965928
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	1. Chapter 1

I stared at the mirror in my palace room. I shifted on my feet, yep feet. I was in the dry area of my rooms.

Anyways, I was looking at myself and seeing if there were any physical changes going on. Everything was the same, except my eyes. They weren’t as bright. They were darker green. I sighed. Whenever I got truly angry around Night or anyone of the shadow world, I would start emitting wisps of shadow. I sighed again and tried to emulate what Ouranos had taught me. Daily meditation and mental exercises worked wonders. I had to keep in mind the priorities of my life, to combat the lies that Night was subtle to weave into our lessons.

“Checking for facial hair? I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.”

I rolled my eyes and turned to look at Triton. “Piss off.”

He snorted and smirked. “If only Mother could hear you say those words!” He entered my room, walking on two feet. I had only seen him do that a couple of other times. I shuddered slightly.

He looked at me concerned. “Percy?”

“What was I like? When I was blocked from myself. What was it like?”

A shadow crossed Triton’s face. “You didn’t recognize any of us. You didn’t even know Annabeth. It was…frightening. You had all the power in the worlds, and yet, you didn’t have the one thing that mattered most.”  I raised an eyebrow. He sighed. “Your personality. You weren’t standing there. It was a monster using your body. Everything that was  _ you _ was gone. I felt numb. I was confused and terrified. I knew that you would have no trouble striking me down where I stood, me, your brother. You wouldn’t care. You didn’t care.”

I turned away and stared at the mirror again. “I keep trying to see the killer that everyone told me I had turned into. I keep trying-”

“Don’t try.”

I turned and looked at by brother, confused. “What?”

“Don’t keep trying to remember something unpleasant from the past. It won’t do you any good if you do remember. You won’t learn any lessons from it that you don’t already know.” Triton snorted. “Your only lesson would have been: I promise from here on out, that I will not try to invade a Titan’s mind, using the gods’ power to do it.”

I snorted too. “I wish my life had come with a warning label, and an instruction pamphlet.”

He smirked and shook his head. “I’m actually indebted to Tartarus and Kronos.”

I frowned. “Huh?”

“I would never have befriended you if you hadn’t come to the sea.” He grinned. “We would probably still have been enemies by the time you left after Christmas Break. However, because of the threat, you had to stay longer.”

I shook my head. “That feels  _ so _ long ago. Like decades.”

He nodded. “I know.” He moved closer to me and pulled me into a hug. “I love you, Percy. I’m proud that you’re my brother.”

I was frozen, but slowly, I began to move too. I slipped my arms around his shoulders and hugged him back. He pulled me tight against him. “I’m so glad you’re my brother, Percy. I’m so glad that we became blood brothers.”

I frowned at his word choice but didn’t argue. It was a nice moment. I didn’t want to ruin it.

Of course, Amphitrite did anyways. “Oh what a wonderful moment! That reminds me! We need to have a family portrait made! Poseidon!” She moved away quickly. I groaned.


	2. Chapter 2

Triton just sighed and leaned his forehead against mine. “There’s no use fighting it.”

I groaned. Then I looked over and saw my window and grinned. “Well?”

He chuckled, and we both climbed out of the room. The water hit us, and I was about to change forms when Triton stopped me. “Wait. Could you teach me how to swim with feet?”

I blinked and then grinned. “It’s actually quite simple. You just need to move your feet up and down like a propeller of sorts.”

We worked a few hours on his swimming until he had gotten it completely right. I chuckled and then we both shifted to tails. With a laugh, I shot towards the surface, slicing through the skin of the water and flipping into an arch and shooting back down into the sea. Triton was jumping with me.

I was laughing and smiling and about to shoot upward for another jump when I stopped moving. I wriggled and pulled, but my tail was caught in an abandoned net that was snagged in the coral. I tried to work my tail out of it, but it was stuck fast. The net wouldn’t come loose of the reef.

I was half above the surface and half under. I sighed and was about to work on the knots that were around me when I heard the distinct sound of a motorboat. I looked at the net and horror swept through me. I hadn’t even noticed that the net had been connected to a bell, which was jangling loudly across the water.

Nausea swept through me. I pulled and yanked and jerked but the net would let loose. The boat was coming closer.

I ducked under the water. “TRITON! TRITON! Help me!” I wasn’t thinking straight. I  _ hated _ being caught. Panic was making my head fuzzy.

No answer. I looked around and saw the boat. It had two men in it. I was about to shift my tail to my legs when they came closer to me. Even though I would be naked, I still had to hide the Mers from the mortals.  It was too late. One of the men stood up in shock and shouted in a language that wasn’t English or Spanish.  I freaked. They had seen my tail! They reached over and pulled the net closer to them. They didn’t try to cut me loose.  The man’s eyes widened as he took in the fact that I really did have a tail. He said something to his friend. I tried to pull away, but his grip tightened.  The man grinned and tried to haul me into the boat, tangling up the net around me even more. The net was tightening around me, restricting my movements.  I shouted and squirmed. I yanked and pulled away, but the other man grabbed my hair. Hissing, I tried to pull the man out of the boat. He gave a shout and let go.  I shot into the water and didn’t come back up. I could barely move through the water. 

“Percy!” Triton grabbed me and kept me from sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

“Triton, where are we right now?” Panic was creeping into my voice.

“Why?”

I shook my head. “There are two mortals above the surface. They saw my tail. They were trying to drag me into the boat.” I yanked frantically at the nets. Triton pushed my hands away and started to cut the nets with his knife.

“They were probably fishermen. No one will believe them. We should just get out of here.” Triton looked up and gave a shout. He pushed me away and narrowly avoided getting impaled by a fishing harpoon. It was pulled back up by the rope connected to it.

I struggled with the rest of the nets. Grunting, I was finally getting free when another harpoon sliced through the water and speared my tail. I let out a strangled scream. My blood spread through the water.

Triton snarled and cut the rope that was pulling me up to the surface. He glared at the shape of the white motorboat and swam at it at full speed.

“Triton?!”

He raised his hands and rammed the boat, cracking the side. He turned and shot down and then flipped around and started gaining speed as he swam towards the boat again. The next ram made a good-sized crack in the side.

I shouted and tried to swim to him, but pain lanced through my entire body. I groaned and started sinking to the sandy bottom. I smelled blood and realized that I was losing too much.  Then I saw the water begin to be filled with gold. Ichor!  I tugged the harpoon out with another scream and then jerkily swam towards my brother, not truly registering the pain now. “Triton?!”

He was struggling with both men. One had a shotgun and was blasting away at him. Triton was bleeding in multiple places from bullets.  I saw red. With a scream, I ignored the pain and raced at the boat. Adrenaline was pumping through my system. I thrust myself out of the water and grabbed the man with the shotgun. I pulled him out of the sinking boat and into the water. He struggled but gradually grew limp in my grasp.  I suddenly realized…he was dead.  I stared as his body sank slowly to the sandy bottom. I stared.  He probably had a wife. Maybe a child.  He was fishing for a living. Trying to make money for his family no doubt.  He was just a mortal in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And I…

_I_ _killed him_.


	3. Chapter 3

~change in POV~

Triton looked at his father, and the king entered the room. Poseidon shook his head. “His tail will be fine, but he refuses to eat anything. He keeps throwing up his nectar  _ and _ his ambrosia. He won’t touch mortal food either.”

Triton snarled lowly. “It was just a mortal. I don’t see why he should fall apart because of one, little soul!”

Amphitrite sighed. “Triton, Percy has been raised to be a hero. He was raised to save the mortals. He wasn’t raised to kill them.”

Poseidon nodded sadly. “Sally made sure that Percy respected the lives of those around him. This evening’s events went against  _ everything _ that Percy was taught.”

Triton sighed. “But he was saving me.”

Amphitrite smiled at her son. “It is hard to understand, but Percy does not think that the man had any less reason to live than a demigod or a god. He would not wish death on anyone, even his own enemies.”

Rolling his eyes, Triton shook his head. “Death is the only final solution. If you have an enemy, then they will not spare you or give you the same treatment.”

Poseidon chuckled. “That is what makes the enemies different from the allies.”

Pausing in thought, Triton had to agree. “I suppose, but nevertheless, the mortal was shooting me with that cursed shotgun. He wasn’t even fighting me honorably. He was blasting away while I was struggling with his companion! And, they tried to grab Percy!”

Poseidon sighed. “Those men were poachers. Every country has them. Every country has evil men scattered throughout its population. They saw Percy’s tail and decided to cash in on a merman. The novelty would have made them a pretty penny.”

The door opened, and Percy slowly swam out. His tail was wrapped. It was still healing, since he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, take any godly medicine. “I…I want to go to camp.”

Poseidon nodded. “Triton can take you.”

Triton gingerly took Percy to his chariot. But Percy shook his head. “No. Get Tyson. He wants to visit his girlfriend, Ella.”

Triton wrinkled his nose. “The harpy?”  He nodded. Triton shook his head. “I sometimes doubt my little brother’s taste in women.”

Percy chuckled and then hissed when he shifted his tail. “I…I know I seem weak-willed right now. After all, killing a mortal isn’t a big deal to you, but…I’m…”

Amphitrite smiled and gave her son a hug. “A hero. You were born to protect mortals. But you need to understand, Percy, sometimes, the monsters in this world aren’t only Greek. Sometimes, there are monsters that have human skin.”

“Who are we to decide who is a monster and who’s not?”

“We don’t decide.” Percy looked confused. Triton sighed. “They decide for us. Those men did not know that I couldn’t die. They were trying to _ kill me _ .” Triton helped him to the chariot, waving to their parents as they left the room.

“You rammed their boat.”

“They tried to yank you into their boat. Mernapping.”

Percy’s lips twitched into a faint smile. He sighed and leaned into his brother’s chest. “I just…I killed a human being.”

Triton nodded. “It’s understandable to feel frightened at the thought of what you are capable of doing.”

“No.”

“What?” Triton raised an eyebrow in confusion and looked down at his brother.

“I don’t feel frightened.” Percy didn’t look at his brother. “I don’t feel sick because of fear or sadness.” He looked into the dark water surrounding them. “I feel sick because I  _ don’t _ have any guilt over my actions. I feel sick because I  _ don’t _ regret killing that man.” He looked at his hands. “But I know I  _ should _ .”

Triton took a deep breath. “Killing a human is easy. It’s how you react to that death that is the hard part.”

Percy frowned and then shook his head. “Killing is easy. What a thing to learn as an eighteen-year-old guy.”

Triton snorted. “Yeah. Life sucks.”

Tyson joined them with his own chariot. After fussing over Percy for a while, all three brothers left for Camp Half-Blood.


End file.
